Cursed (Old Version)

Cursed: Chapter 10

Chapter 10

After hearing Nene tell us that her grandma died, no words can come out of my mouth. All I can do is calmly sit in the chair next to her, as if I'm a robot, and just pull her into my arms. We both close our eyes and hug each other until we find another pair of arms around us, and I snap my eyes open to find my brother holding us. Gently, he breaks off from our hug and offers to get Nene and I some stuff from the cafeteria until her family comes. It's then that Nene remembers she forgot to call them and tell them what happened, but apparently my parents already thought of that, because shortly after she panics about that, they walk in through the door. Nene and I break off our hug completely after that so she can explain what happened...and surprisingly, she still covers for me, in the end.

In a way...I killed her. I knew she shouldn't have done that stuff, but I let her do it anyways because I was curious. I've been getting zeros practically everywhere or getting myself into more trouble, so to have a chance to really understand what's going on just seemed too...good to pass up. While I still have a lot of questions, I finally feel like I have a foundation about all this now. Yet...it was too good to be true.

How can anything be worth someone's life?

I don't think my conscience can take much more of this...

My brother arrives with some food and sits next to Nene without reservation, being incredibly nice to her and wrapping an arm around her comfortingly. Nene, clearly distraught and explaining to her family how she didn't even make it to the hospital, stops mid-sentence to look straight at me as I start to back away from everything with the thoughts of this new burden starting to weigh down on my soul.

“Carwen?” she asks sternly, knowing very well already what I'm thinking.

“I-I'm sorry,” I say quietly, begging with my eyes. “I just...need some air.”

Nene gets up instantly and hugs me, whispering in my ear, “Please don't think what you're thinking.”

I force a smile, “That's a really silly sentence. We need to work on your English homework some more.”

Nene smiles forcefully too in return, but I can see the strength in her eyes. Her grandma just died, right in front of her too...yet she still seems full of fire. Despite whatever is making her this strong all of a sudden to even think about comforting me in her time of need, I can still tell she wishes that all of this wasn't true. Is her new strength worth the price of someone's life?

I swear, life is a game of trading cards, and you never feel like you truly come out a winner, no matter how the trade goes.

“I'm really sorry,” I whisper.

Nene sniffs back a few tears, “It'll be okay...at some-some point.” Then, Nene's sadness floods into her face making her crumble into my arms, “She looked so peaceful w-when she...when she...”

I look up at my brother in fright and he reacts instantly, grabbing Nene and holding her. “Go, get some air. You look like you're going to be sick,” he orders firmly before he walks Nene back over to her family who are all crying in almost perfect unison...like a horrible song.

I back out through the doors, quickly feeling myself begin to hyperventilate until I look onto the parking lot and see Carter sitting on a bench. He's always been someone I can notice even from a long distance, and it's most certainly Carter just relaxing on a bench, looking sad but strangely comfortable there. Then, as if he knows I'm watching him, he looks up and sees my face. Without another second he rushes over and hugs me. No tears come out of my body, though. Nothing feels like it's moving in my body...I'm just hollow